Pierpont Morgan Library

A presentation and discussion of 225 early books and manuscripts which were written, designed, and illustrated for children.

"The present catalogue, and the retrospective exhibition which it records, combine our tribute to the uncompromising spirit of Joseph Blumenthal's pursuit of excellence and our expression of gratitude for his achievement, not alone for the Library, but for printing in our time. It is appropriate that the catalogue should itself be a product of The Spiral Press, and the reader will doubtless share our pleasure that Mr. Blumenthal was persuaded ... to write the personal account which adds immeasurably to the lasting value of this publication"--Page 7.

This exhibition highlights more than 150 master drawings from the Thaw Collection, one of the world?s finest private collections containing over 400 sheets. Assembled over the last fifty years, and made a promised gift to the Morgan in 1975, the collection has now been given in full to the museum by Life Trustee Eugene V. Thaw and his wife, Clare. 'Drawn to Greatness' focuses on pivotal artists and key moments in the history of draftsmanship. Works by major masters from the Renaissance to the modern era will be on view, including Mantegna, Rubens, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Piranesi, Watteau, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres, Turner, Daumier, Redon, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Pollock. 00Exhibition: Morgan Library and Museum, New York, USA (29.09.2017-07..01.2018) / Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, USA (03.02.-29.04.2018).

Examines 50 works in the Pierpont Morgan Library printed before 1501.

The Pierpont Morgan Library, once the private treasure house of American financier and collector J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), is a major repository of artistic, literary, and historical materials dating from ancient times to the modern era. There are objects of breathtaking beauty and visual splendor, such as the jeweled covers of the magnificent Lindau Gospels, the lavishly illuminated Farnese Hours, and master drawings from Durer to Degas. Such works as the Gutenberg Bible and the first printing of the Declaration of Independence document turning points in the course of Western civilization. Still other works stand as unique records of the world's great creative geniuses, for example the sole surviving manuscript fragment of Milton's Paradise Lost and the original score of Mozart's majestic Haffner Symphony. In the words of Mark Twain, it is, indeed, an "august company.". This book, written for the general reader and scholar alike, reproduces and discusses over 175 of the finest objects from the Library's richly diverse collections. An introductory section provides an account of the origins of the Library, when Pierpont Morgan - avowing that "no price is too high for an object of unquestioned beauty and known authenticity" - set out to form a collection of books, manuscripts, and drawings to rival those of the great aristocratic libraries of Europe. The elegant marble library he built in New York to house these collections, regarded as one of architect Charles F. McKim's finest achievements, is illustrated and discussed in detail as well. The chapters devoted to the principal collections of the Library - drawings and prints, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, printed books, fine bindings, literary and historical autographs, music manuscripts, Gilbert and Sullivan materials, ancient Near Eastern seals and tablets, and paintings and art objects - are preceded by brief essays outlining the formation, content and scope of the Library's holdings in these fields. All of the major works that are discussed have detailed descriptions and are reproduced, many in color. The works you will find in this volume - often masterpieces of their kind - have been selected not only for their special qualities and importance but for the degree to which they represent the strengths and collecting interests of the Morgan Library today.

"Both a museum and a center for scholarly research, the Morgan Library is an extraordinary complex of buildings occupying half a block in the heart of New York City. Among the world's greatest treasuries of seminal artistic, literary, musical, and historical works, the Library's renowned collections of rare books, manuscripts, and drawings have as their principal focus the history, art, and literature of the Western world.". "This book provides an overview of the Library's collections, highlights among which are the ninth-century Lindau Gospels, a rare vellum copy of the Gutenberg Bible, The Hours of Catherine of Cleves, Albrecht Durer's Adam and Eve, drawings by Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Rembrandt Harmensz, van Rijn, and Peter Paul Rubens, and manuscripts of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Arnold Schoenberg, Charlotte Bronte, Henry David Thoreau, John Steinbeck, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln."--BOOK JACKET.

xx, 287 p. : 25 cm